


Care

by Fangirlwriting



Series: Creative Trade [7]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Blood, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders Being an Idiot, Gen, Logic | Logan Sanders Is A Good Friend, Look At Them I'm So Proud, Minor Injuries, Morality | Patton Sanders is a Good Friend, but it's not graphic, for once
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-12 16:59:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29013954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirlwriting/pseuds/Fangirlwriting
Summary: Remus was not expecting Roman to be a part of another Saturday.
Relationships: Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: Creative Trade [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1991227
Comments: 10
Kudos: 32





	1. Chapter 1

Most of the time on Saturday, Roman was with Virgil in the imagination. It didn’t change Remus’ Saturdays much, he usually spent them either watching TV because Thomas was, laying on the floor of his room, or laying on the floor of his imagination, or sleeping.

This morning he had chosen the second option. He had debated for a second talking to Logan, as he had seemed much more approachable lately, but it felt too rude to break tradition for something as simple as boredom, so he did in fact find himself on his floor.

That didn’t ever change the fact that he got hungry though, so eventually he did wander out to the commons to find some food in the kitchen.

Patton was frying pancakes when he walked in, so maybe he got up earlier than he thought.

“Good morning, Remus,” Patton said, and Remus was glad that the anger that had been present in his voice from their last conversation had long since faded. “Do you want pancakes?”

Remus hesitated for a second. “Can I have them with mayonnaise?” he asked hesitantly.

Patton turned and gave him a baffled look. “What?”

“Mayonnaise. I just wanna try it.”

“Uh… okay.”

Patton put a couple pancakes on a plate and pulled out the mayonnaise from the fridge to hand it to Remus along with the regular syrup and powdered sugar. Remus ignored those both and squeezed a good amount of mayonnaise on the pancakes, trying to ignore Patton wrinkling his nose.

He cut a bite away and ate it.

“…And how is that?” Patton asked, still sounding a little baffled.

Remus smiled. “I really like it!”

Patton blinked a couple times. “Well, okay then. Pancakes with mayonnaise for you, I guess.”

Remus continued to eat, stopping only for a moment when Logan walked into the room, but he simply raised an eyebrow and sat down to have some pancakes of his own.

Patton and Logan both headed into the living room to look at the quizzes Thomas had to grade after breakfast, and Remus was debating whether or not to go back into his room or go to the Imagination instead when all three of them were all very abruptly interrupted by Roman rising up, covered in scratches and blood.

“Holy shit!” Remus cried, causing Patton and Logan to look up from what they were doing. “Princey, what the hell?”

Roman looked over at him in surprise. “Oh. Uh, wrong commons. Sorry.”

He was clearly about to sink out again, which, what the fuck, so Remus grabbed his arm. “Woah, hey, what the hell is happening?”

Logan and Patton were now standing too, both clearly concerned.

“Oh, it’s not a big deal, honestly. Anxiety and I got a little in over our heads with a monster this week. I meant to sink out to Deceit’s room, he’s very used to the two of us being idiots,” Roman finished with a fond smile. “I’ll just get out of your hair—”

“Uh-uh, nope! You’re staying right here!” Patton called, running over to Roman and sitting him down on the couch.

“I’m going to get blood all over the couch cushions, Patton.”

“Doesn’t matter. I’ll be right back.”

Patton ran for the bathroom where they kept the first aid kit, and Logan moved over closer to Roman.

“You really should be more careful if this happens so often,” he said, looking Roman over.

“Yes, I’ve gotten that lecture countless times from Deceit. It’s really okay, you guys don’t need to panic as if the world is ending.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Patton called, and everyone looked back over to see him running back in. “You’re covered in blood!” He rushed over to the couch again and set the first aid kit to the side.

“Well, most of it’s not mine,” Roman said, looking a little confused. About what, Remus wasn’t sure. “I did say I was fighting a monster.”

“What parts of it are yours then? What hurts?”

“I was really going to go ask Deceit to help, you don’t have to—”

“Shush. What hurts?”

Patton was very good at this kind of thing, so Remus and Logan both didn’t end up doing much aside from sitting on the nearby chairs and watching Patton mother hen Roman as if he was much more injured than he probably actually was, staying available in case Patton needed help. Roman spent the whole interaction looking bewildered as he answered Patton’s questions as to what parts hurt the most.

Patton spent about half an hour looking over every inch of Roman that he could see injures on before he was satisfied. He gave Roman his official permission to go back home and waved him off, and Roman finally left, still looking very baffled for a reason Remus didn’t understand.

“Well, that was a scary start to the day,” Patton said, looking a little shaken.

“It was,” Logan agreed. “I do recommend you go take a shower, Patton. You have quite a bit of blood on your clothes.”

Patton gave him a small smile. “That’s probably a good idea. Let me know if anything else happens, okay?”

Logan and Remus both assured him they would, and then Patton headed out to take a shower.

It didn’t take long after that for Remus’ Saturday to return to normal. He watched some TV when Thomas did during lunch, but otherwise he spent the day in his room.

This was finally interrupted one more time at the end of the day, when Roman rose up in his bedroom, looking very thoroughly patched up and clearly having showered, as evidenced by the lack of dried blood.

“Hey,” Remus said, sitting up partway from where he’d been laying on his bed. “You good?”

“I’m good. What… what happened earlier?”

“That sounds like something you would tell us,” Remus said, tipping his head in confusion. “You’re the one who showed up in our living room covered in blood.”

“Well, yes, but then you all took time out of your day to patch me up, when I told you I could easily go to Janus. It’s not like he would have done much differently then Patton did.”

“Oh, that’s just how Patton is when someone gets hurt,” Remus said, waving his hand dismissively. “He freaks out and has to make sure they’re okay. He’s just like that.”

Roman stared at him in silence for a moment.  _ “Patton _ is like that?”

“Uh, yeah. Why is that so surprising?”

Roman hesitated. “I just… I don’t know. I didn’t think Patton would really care if I got hurt. He doesn’t particularly like me.”

Remus gaped at him. “That doesn’t mean he enjoys it when you’re  _ injured. _ What, did you think Patton was a heartless monster or something?”

“Uh, I mean… kinda… yeah,” Roman admitted.

Remus blinked a couple times and stood up. “What the hell gave you that idea?”

Roman was still staring at him too. Remus almost felt like they needed a translator of some kind. “I don’t know, maybe it has something to do with the fact that they shoot down your every idea and have suppressed you so much over the years that you can’t even use your side of the imagination anymore?”

“I mean yeah, they fuck up a lot, but that’s not like… malicious,” Remus said. “At least, I don’t think so. Patton really hates my job and the way I do it, but he’d still care if I was hurting.”

“Wha—  _ Remus,” _ Roman said. “You  _ are.” _

Remus looked down and fidgeted with his blanket. “Yeah, but he doesn’t know that. Or he’s refusing to see it. I think they both are.”

Roman didn’t say anything for a while. He walked forward and sat down on the bed after a second, and Remus got the sense that he was clearly thinking deeply about something, so he decided not to interrupt him.

Finally, Roman looked over at him. Remus looked back and saw a new kind of determination in Roman’s gaze.

“Okay,” he said. “I know what to do.”


	2. Chapter 2

Remus had been very unsure about the idea at first. There was, after all, a reason that he never showed Patton or Logan his side of the Imagination— barring the time that he’d pretended it was an entryway on the way to Roman’s side. Roman understood that. If his side of the Imagination was the one struggling so much, he would also be scared and a little ashamed. Enough that he wouldn’t want to show it to anyone else.

But it also wouldn’t have been his fault, and it wasn’t Remus’ either. And if Remus was right about Patton caring if he knew Remus was hurting… then this was the right move.

Roman showed up the morning after his apparently very scary injury had happened and was met with much less irritation than he usually was, which seemed like a good start.

“Good morning,” Roman said. “Would you mind terribly if I joined you for breakfast? Remus and I have an idea we need to run by you.”

Remus still looked nervous, and Patton and Logan both looked a little wary in the next second, but Patton smiled slightly at him. “Of course, that’s no problem Princey. Have a seat.”

Roman smiled wider and sat down next to Remus. He looked over a second later and could see how obviously still nervous he was. Roman smiled slightly and gave what he hoped was a reassuring nod.

Remus took a breath and looked back over at Patton and Logan. “So we were kind of thinking…” he said, fidgeting with his sash. “That maybe you two could help us with the brainstorming session today. Just so you can see how we do it and so we can maybe come up with an idea that makes everyone happy.”

Patton smiled widely, which was also a good sign. “That sounds like a great idea, kiddo! We can meet there after breakfast!”

Remus seemed to relax a little bit at that, although Roman doubted he’d stay that way for long, at least once they actually went inside the Imagination.

They all met up in Remus’ room after breakfast, and Roman stayed up near him in case Remus wanted him to do any talking, although they’d agreed beforehand that Remus would do most of this.

Roman watched Remus reach for the door handle, take a deep breath, and pull it open, and then they all walked inside.

Logan started for the door that led to Roman’s half of the Imagination, which also happened to be the only visible thing in Remus’ side. That was when Roman spoke up.

“Woah, hey Specs, I didn’t give you permission to go in there.”

Logan turned and gave him a confused look. “Why would you need to? We’re going to Remus’ half of the Imagination, not yours, are we not?”

Roman raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. “Uh, yeah. Where do you think we are?”

Logan looked at him in confusion for a few seconds before he turned to face Remus, probably expecting him to deny that fact or explain what was really happening. But Remus was just fidgeting with his sash again.

“Remus?” Patton asked hesitantly, clearly having picked up on the tone.

“Yeah, uh… this is my side of the Imagination,” Remus said. “It’s… not supposed to look like this.” He looked up at them again, and Roman looked over to see that Patton and Logan did look concerned.

“Why does it, then?” Logan asked. “You told me this was an entryway.”

“Yeah, I lied,” Remus admitted. He hesitated and looked up at Roman again, who raised an eyebrow, trying to ask without saying anything if Remus wanted him to take over.

Remus shook his head. “This is just what happens when several decades of burnout builds up,” he said. Roman could hear the slight edge of anger in his voice, though he was clearly trying hard to hide it.

“I’m sorry, did you say several…  _ decades _ of burnout?” Logan asked, sounding much more concerned than he had a second ago. “How could you develop several decades of burnout so quickly?”

“Oh for fucks sake,” Roman groaned. “How dense are you two? He didn’t develop several decades worth of burnout overnight, he developed it over  _ several decades.” _

“What do you…” Patton started hesitantly.

“What did you think was going to happen?” Remus snapped, and there was the anger he’d been trying to hide. He crossed his arms and glared away. “I’m not saying you have to love every idea I come up with, but hearing me out every now and then would be nice.”

“Hang on,” Patton said, his voice sounding weaker than Roman had heard it before. “Are you saying this is  _ our _ fault?”

Remus didn’t say anything. Patton and Logan both glanced over at Roman after a second. He nodded. “Creativity isn’t something you can use when you want to and ignore the rest of the time,” he said. “It doesn’t work like that. Every day I either write something, sing something, draw or paint something, go on adventures of some kind in the Imagination. I’m not saying I don’t take days off, or even longer stretches of time off if I need to, but I do  _ something, _ often. If the only thing you let Remus do is plan lessons, and then you shoot down everything he tries to come up with anyway, it’s going to cause… well, this.” Roman gestured around them.

Patton and Logan both looked around with wide eyes, clearly trying to process what exactly that meant. It was probably fair to give them a minute. That was a lot of information to take in at once.

“But— you— why didn’t you say something?” Patton asked finally.

“You never listen to me anyway,” Remus grumbled. “I gave up on saying something like, years ago.”

There was another long stretch of silence as Patton and Logan looked around again.

“I just… I didn’t like the ideas you came up with,” Patton said quietly. “I wasn’t trying to…”

“Not everything has to be about whether or not Thomas is a good person,” Remus said, looking hesitantly back at Patton. Roman took a small step back to let Remus take over the rest of the way. He seemed to know where he was going with this. “And anyway, you do know liking dark stuff doesn’t make someone a dark person, right?”

“I…” Patton said, and trailed off, looking torn and a little stricken.

“I just want to make things interesting,” Remus said, sounding almost a little desperate. “We don’t have to change Thomas’ life dramatically to involve a little creative spirit. Like… like that time with the deep sea fish. You saw how fascinated everyone was to talk about those things.”

“They were probably just trying to avoid getting homework,” Logan pointed out, though he sounded unsure.

“It’s a place to start!” Remus cried, throwing his hands up. “What if we can find something that does interest them? What if we can get them to  _ care?” _ He crossed his arms and looked at Logan. “You can’t tell me that wouldn’t be amazing.”

Patton and Logan both looked at each other again.

“I’m just…” Remus said, looking down and tucking his arms further into his sides. “I’m so tired of doing nothing.”

“Remus,” Patton said softly. He moved forward the couple steps until he was standing in front of him and pulled Remus into a hug. Logan joined him a second later.

Roman smiled a little and leaned back against the door to Remus’ room. This was going about how he’d hoped it would.

“I’m sorry,” Patton said as he pulled back. “I didn’t realize that you… that you’re hurting so much. I didn’t want… I’m sorry, Remus.”

“I’m… sorry too,” Logan said hesitantly. “I know I can get swept away with how much I love science, and how much I love being listened to. But I… I should have made room for you, Remus.”

“We both should have,” Patton agreed.

Roman caught Remus’ gaze when he glanced back at him. Roman gestured back towards the mindscape and raised his eyebrows in a question. Remus nodded.

Roman gave him a smile and headed back into the commons to wait for the others to return.

…

It took a good half hour or so, which didn’t really surprise him. They must have had a lot to talk about. When they finally came out of the Imagination again, Patton and Logan looked hesitant and Remus looked hopeful, more so than Roman had ever seen him before.

“You guys good?” Roman asked, standing from the couch.

“In very many ways we are not,” Logan admitted. He sounded as soft and hesitant as he looked.

Roman smiled a little. “I think that’s okay.”

“So… what now?” Remus asked, glancing around at everyone.

“I think we’re going to have to figure that out together,” Patton said. “But we can do it.” He hesitated. “Maybe we can start with trying that frog dissecting idea?” he asked, looking very uncomfortable with the prospect.

Remus, on the other hand, lit up.


End file.
